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Taranaki Daily News, 7 November 1918, Page 4

THE INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC. The influenza epidemic is becoming serious in New Zealand. There seems to be several varieties. The virulent form t'hat has been prevalent in South Africa and Europe and causing suc'hheavy mortality, seems to have gained a footing iu Auckland, and there is no doubt that its advent was .coincident with the arrival of the Niagara ou its last trip. The public are pertinently asking why the ship was not quarantined. It is really an amazing thing that a vessel carrying this disease aboard should have been allowed to berth in the ordinary way, after a perfunctory fumigation, its patients removed to local hospitals, and its passengers allowed to mingle with a, people who by their isolation had so far escaped the ravages of the epidemic. What were t'lie Health officials thinking of? Now, this Spanish influenza is almost as deadly as the bubonic plague, and for that reason one would have expected the Health authorities to have taken the most stringent measures to prevent its taking root in New Zealand. The fact that the Prime Minister and Sir Joseph Ward were aboard the Niagara should not have been considered iu the slightest degree. Important as their duties were and pressing as their engagements in New Zealand might have been, it would not have entailed the country in disaster if they, with the others, had 'been quarantined for two or three weeks. The question of public health is paramount, and if our political leaders were responsible for the relaxation wf Jha quarantine conditions in |this .case,

then they have a great deal to answer for. Tlie disease is now rife in Auckland, and the daily death rolls make very sad reading. The point to ba considered: What are the authorities doing to limit the spread of the epidemic? Are any means being taken to isolate Auckland? If not, why not? Judging hy the statement of the Minister for Railways in the House yesterday, the menace seems to sit lightly on the shoulders of the Government, There is influenza in other parts, Taranaki not escaping by an}' means, liut fortunately it is of the milder type. Wbnt we want to keep away from is the .ii.'iully Spanish form that by official laxity lias been allowed to gain a footing in a country where we have every reason to expect immunity.